US President Donald Trump will attend the annual meeting of world financial and political leaders in Davos, Switzerland later this month.
The surprise move was confirmed by the White House on today.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will be among the political and business leaders attending the high profile annual conference of the World Economic Forum, but US presidents typically opt to stay away from the Swiss meeting for fear of being dubbed as elitist.

Last year, Mr Trump’s election victory dominated conversation at the World Economic Forum even though his team declined to send an official representative.

He’ll be the first sitting US president to attend the meeting of global economic and financial leaders since Bill Clinton in January 2000.

During his election campaign President Trump had railed against globalisation in favour or an “America first” agenda, labelling Hillary Clinton, as “a globalist”.

“The President welcomes opportunities to advance his America First agenda with world leaders,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Tuesday in a statement. “At this year’s World Economic Forum, the President looks forward to promoting his policies to strengthen American businesses, American industries, and American workers.”

The theme for this year’s conference is "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World.”